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Provenance Research

Since late 2011, the Kunsthalle has been systematically researching the origin of all paintings, sculptures and graphic works in its possession. The last step in this process, the systematic examination of the graphic collection, has been underway since August 2015. The goal of this project, undertaken with the indispensable support of theDeutschen Zentrum für Kulturgutverluste (German Lost Art Foundation), is to illuminate the changes in ownership of artworks created before 1946 as comprehensively as possible. Consequently, artworks that were seized illegally during the period of National Socialism may be identified and returned to their original owners or their descendants.

The first step was to examine the origins of 667 paintings and sculptures. This research established that 515 objects had originated from legitimate sources. The whereabouts of 135 of the objects between the years 1933 and 1945 could not be definitively verified, but evidence suggests that they were not among the artworks stolen by the Nazis. Eventually, 17 artworks were found to have been seized illegally by the Nazis. These potentially tainted works along with an unequivocally tainted piece of graphic art have been entered into the LostArt database. All available information on these works can be found here.